Little Gifts Between Lovers
by Curlscat
Summary: Belated gift for my bestie, Munchy. First foray into the Avengers fandom, so it's probably not the best. Steve's had a bad day, an he comes home to no boyfriend and even more stress. But even if he's not around, Loki knows how to keep things interesting.


**AN~ Long, LONG overdue oneshot for my best friend, who is now old enough to get drunk legally! Her birthday was less than a month ago, so I'm not TOO awful a person.**

**Anyway, this is our paring and I will ship it 'til something better comes along. Crack is fun, kids.**

**Disclaimer: The following content is my property intellectually only. It in no way represents the opinions of anyone associated with Marvel or Disney. The characters have been removed from their original settings and placed in a context which the writers never intended them to be placed in. Their actions, dialogue, and thoughts are entirely contrived by me.**

* * *

The cats were everywhere. On the fridge, behind the stove, under and on the couch, climbing the drapes, hanging from the ceiling, in his desk, drinking from the sink, chasing each other across the floor...

Steve wondered when exactly his house had turned into an animal shelter.

It had started out slowly- one cat brought home. Then it had turned into two. Then a box of kittens on the street and of course it wouldn't be fair to bring just _one_ home, and then suddenly the place was crawling with cats.

He supposed this was the price for dating Loki. One of the many prices.

Oh well. The cats weren't that bad- most of the time.

Today, though... Today he guessed he was just having a bad day.

It didn't help that nobody had emptied the litter box in over a week.

Steve sighed and went to perform this task. Loki had done something a few months ago that kept the box from smelling, but it was still annoying that his boyfriend wouldn't even clean up after his own pets.

Of course, Loki's magic had twisted the cats enough already that, given another year or so, they might change enough that they'd be able to empty their own box. Or use the toilet. Apparently, in the time before Steve had woken up, people had decided to spend their time training cats to do that, so you never knew.

It's been a long day. Steve was reminded continually of just how far outside of his comfort zone he'd been placed, and how much things had changed. But he mentioned his boyfriend to the girl in the supermarket aisle while he tried to figure out just how he was supposed to swipe that little plastic card to get the money out of it (why people couldn't just use _cash_ he didn't know), the woman behind him tutted like he'd just said he was interested in marrying his dog.

How much things can change, and how much they stay the same.

Most of the time, Steve could ignore the looks and mutters from people who thought his relationship is wrong. He'd reconciled this part of himself a long time ago. It took a while, but he decided that it was more important to hold on to what made him happy than to agonize over the presence of some... similar anatomy.

Besides, Loki understood that Steve still liked women. He was quite accommodating. Steve honestly thought he relished it. Loki relished most things. Or despised them. There was very little calm around him.

All Steve wanted was to sit down with his boyfriend and watch a black and white movie with a cup of soup. But the house was dark and, aside from the cats, empty. Loki had gone somewhere, and he wasn't back yet.

Steve sighed again and went to put the groceries, which he'd dumped on the table earlier without paying much attention to them, away.

Once the last of them were in their proper places (army training has made Steve particular about things like this), he realized there was something else on the table- a note, and a box.

He opened the box. Inside was a thick photo album, tall and fat. Flipping through the pages, Steve saw that it was full of black-and-white photos of people he recognized. Photos he hadn't seen in years, and some he'd never seen. There were some newspaper clippings and things, too.

He turned to the piece of paper, the first smile of the day lighting up his face.

_Darling_, the note read,

_Sorry I'm not home yet, I had to stay late- don't ask me what I'm doing, you'll only be upset- and I don't exactly know when I'll be back. I thought you might need some cheering up, so I thought it was time to give you this. I've been working on it for a while now. I thought you'd appreciate seeing a little more of your past, since you missed out on so much of it. See you soon!_

_Love,_

_Loki_

_P.S.: Thank you for emptying the litter box._

_P.P.S.: Yes, you are that predictable. I love you anyway._

Steve smiled. Suddenly, all the problems surrounding Loki were worth it again. He picked up his box in one arm, and a fluffy cat in the other, and went to go wait for his wonderful boyfriend.


End file.
